Chris and I have been going over plans for Greta’s big-girl room for a few months now. That’s the way we are. We plan and plan and plan and change our minds and plan some more. Heck, we have been planning our kitchen renovation since we moved in! But now that we have a sure direction, we’re ready to share it with you. Greta’s big-girl room, not the kitchen. ;)

Here’s the starting point. Kind of. We converted Greta’s crib into a toddler bed and all of those pictures above her bed are gone. And the blind is broken.

Basically, it currently isn’t in the best condition, but it does look way better than when we first bought the house 19 months ago. Now that Greta has officially outgrown her crib-turned-toddler-bed and the rest of the room is in shambles (see above description) and we’re ready to start a new project, giving Greta’s nursery a facelift into a big girl room seems like the next natural step. A couple weeks ago we shared inspiration photos for the direction we wanted to go here.

And you know what the greatest thing about an inspiration photo is? Making it your own. And that is just what we have done. We took elements and colors we loved and combined it with what made the most sense for Greta’s room and what would fit in best with our home. So, without further adieu–Greta’s big girl room mood board:

1. We debated. We even surveyed you. But in the end, we have decided to go with grasscloth wallpaper on the wall behind Greta’s headboard. It’s what I loved most about our inspiration picture and Chris was surprisingly enthusiastic about it.

2. Paint colors are one of those things that we can’t be sure of until there is a swatch on the wall, but as much as we loved the cheery yellow walls in our inspiration pic, we weren’t feeling it in our house. Our paint colors are more neutral and a little moody, so I swapped the yellow with a light, warm greige–here, Ben’s Gray Owl, and we think it will play nice with the other things we are implementing.

3. Obsessed. This green “cub print” fabric will make the best window treatments. We are thinking roman shade at this point with a black-out liner. Now, to figure out how to make that….

4. On either side of the window in Greta’s room, there will be thin Billy bookcases. We plan on adding the extender pieces and trimming them out for the built-in look we love so much. Doors or no doors? Still up in the air on that.

5. A bed. Fingers crossed, it is this bed. And no, I am not giving you the link to the online classified so you can snatch it up before us. We are still waiting to hear back about this vintage twin for a deal (!!) so we’ll keep you posted.

6. As for the bedding, we have this same duvet (ours is obviously larger) cover from Ikea on our bed and love it. OFELIA VASS duvets for everyone!!

7. For the sheet set, I must have these. Errr….Greta must. The gold (which is playing the part of yellow in this room) polka-dots are toooo sweet. They aren’t cheap, so I’m still on the hunt for a budget version, but until then–I’ll be dreaming of these ones.

8. Mimicking our inspiration photo with a bright pink throw at the bottom of the bed is as cute as it is girly. I love this one that dons pom-poms.

9. Fun art!! This one pictured is sadly not in the budget, but I wouldn’t mind trying to create something similar. The colors tie in perfectly to the room I am envisioning but it also has a young, playful feel.

40 Comments

That’s a fun plan. We’re about to move our 3 year old out of the toddler bed and into a twin and I completely understand not linking to that bed, it’s worth sniping. Also that light is GREAT! I have had the hardest time finding a cheap ceiling light with more than one bulb that wasn’t ugly or depressing.

Rebecca

Such a fun and colorful room! I especially like the sheets, pom-pom throw, and the art. I know you shared one art piece in the mood board – and I love it- but any thoughts on doing a similar art piece to the one above Serena’s bed, too?

P.S. I’ve always enjoyed looking forward to your blog post as an afternoon pick-me-up, but I do like the convenience of this early morning post.

Kristi

Well now I like this! The room will be so cute! I’ve been planning my daughters big girl room as well! I should show you mine since you showed me yours. I made my own roman shade from a pinterest tutorial using those cheap white blinds and YHL just posted a really easy way on their site. It’s not hard to do up a roman shade. I wanted to add Billies to each side of her windows too but of course we have baseboard heating so I’m trying to figure out a new plan of action. Can’t wait to see it come together. Oh and if you don’t get that bed ikea has a nice alternative: the Minnen- totally different style but so cute! That’s what we are getting if I don’t find a Jenny Lind. Love the new time!

Anonymous

meaganbriggs3

Those sheets are so stinking cute! And I agree with you, that twin bed is a must. I’m glad we went straight to a twin bed instead of buying a toddler bed like a lot of ppl do. It is fun too when we cuddle with her and the bed is more comfortable than OUR bed!! Love the color scheme. So feminine and big girl-esque!

I forgot about the early morning post and so it was a big surprise for me!! Woooo!!

Sarah-Nadine

Sonia

I made 3 roman sades for my bedroom this summer and used http://www.make-roman-shades.com/ because, quite frankly it came up on google first. BUT the instructions they make for you (free if you buy something from them or $3 if you don’t) are AMAZING. They give you all the numbers you need, spell out the cuts for the different fabrics/tools and just break things down into do-able parts. I can sew, but not that well, and this made it super easy.

I researched a bunch of ways to make shades before I settled on that website, but I am so glad I chose it. Honestly the best $3 you can spend if you’re making them.

Rebecca, I really would love to still do something like the butterflies in Serena’s room, but with this bed we have our eyes on, I think it would feel too tight to try and place them within the posts. BUT, we could always put them on the opposite wall! Still figuring out details like that, but we’d love to work it in if the evolving room accomodates them.

Thanks Kristi! I’ll have to check out Pinterest for a good tutorial. I did see YHL’s, but we need this one to be functional. It sounds like yours is so there is hope for me. :) Glad you enjoy the new time.

Jennifer

I made all of the curtains and shades for our home last year (we have totally odd size windows so this was much much more affordable) and the black out roman shades I made are my favorite! I went to the library and got out a few books with visual instructions – One of the best books was by Sunset, Curtains, Draperies and Shades – but there are lots of tutorials out there! It’s not too hard but learn from my mistakes – put some dowels inside to help it hold the lines straight when it’s lifted. The books I read listed this as optional, saying you could ‘train’ your fabric – and over a year later, it’s mostly trained, but the very ends tend to bunch when you pull the shade up. Easy to straighten out – but I’ll be retrofitting them with dowels this winter. You can do it and you’ll be so happy when they’re up!

PS. Roc-lon blackout fabric is phenomenal. Easy and forgiving to work with and makes things truly dark. As a bonus – I think it helps with energy bills too and it’s pretty much always on sale at Joann’s around here. :)

Thank you for the tips, Jennifer. You are really making me think I can do this! I made one roman shade prior, but it was non-working–purely for looks. This one has got to function AND look good. …. preferably. Hehe.

Lyndsey

Amanda

Got here from your comment on YHL… it looks like a beautiful plan! It is bad that I kind of want to do this for our master bedroom? Maybe minus the pink blanket, to appease my husband, but I really do love the colors you chose.

This may be a stupid question…but when you make your mood boards, are you just putting pictures onto a word document or are you using photoshop or something fancy? I’ve been in the mood to make a few and don’t really know where to begin.

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